There Is No Hiding Place
by Whas'up
Summary: Donna dies, but is death so terrible? Will involve timey-whimey stuff that is truly awesome, along with terrific angst and just dreadfully depressing looks into the Doctor and Donna's heads.


_On the Tardis, after the Library and the loss of River Song, the Doctor took Donna to Shenlin, to the most beautiful farmland in the Universe. "I feel so sorry for you, Doctor." She'd said suddenly, she said it kindly, sincerly, with none of her usual attitude or lip. "Because you're going outlive us all. You're going to have to experience the loss of a dear friend over and over again, if you haven't already." She looked away from him, her eyes landing on the Tardis in the valley below them, "That's what you get for hanging around us humans, I suppose."_

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Donna ran through the futuristic looking corridor on pure adrenaline. Yet, dispite the chaos around her, the blur of fleeing bodies, the screaming, the shrill klaxon, she heard nothing but her own ragged breaths and the pounding of her heart. Her mind seemed detached from her body, which operated on pure instinct. The faster she moved, the more time seemed to slow, the more she became overwhelmed by the sense of unreality. As if Donna was not truly running for her life on a space ship in the fiftieth century.

During her time aboard the Tardis, she had lived through experiences she could not have anticipated in her wildest dreams. And in spite of the countless dire situations she had found herself in, despite all of the Doctors warnings, she had never truly believed it was dangerous out here. Never believed that she would be running for her life, all alone, on a ship in the fiftieth century.

Her body was cold with fear, or perhaps the heating had been finally lost, but her mind was utterly calm, percieving each agonizing second in unbearable clarity. She saw each blinking light, each centimeter of the wall and knew that it would be gone in moments. In front of the confusing mass of people, a shrill alarm sounded as the isolation door began to descend. Donna forced her legs to move impossibly faster, knowing that time was running out, they all needed to get out of Green section. Make it to Red, she chanted in her head, make it to Red and you'll be safe, it's safe on Red.

Her burst of speed propelled her forward, her foot catching on the heel of the man in front of her, Hax, who she'd met hours before and instantly liked. Hax stumbled, half turned, at the sight of Donna behind him he slowed to be beside her, he grabbed her hand, trying to pull Donna faster then she could go.

"No!" she shouted, barely audible over the klaxons, "You go on!" He shook his head, his face a determined mask as he dragged her forward. The isolation door was already halfway to the deck by the time they arrived. A small group was crouching down, struggling to make it through the limited space. Hax, without dropping her hand, barged forward, pushing the small group, himself, and Donna, through the space hurriedly.

They spilled forward into another corridor, much the same expect for the color of the walls, Yellow, they were on Yellow section, still not safe. A group of children emerging from their classrooms, each clucthing colored paper origami birds, were spilling out into the hallway in front of them. Some of the children were wide eyed, while others wept openly as their teachers tried to comfort them and get them to run at the same time. The people so recently escaped from Green section each snatched a child into their arms and ran down the corridor. Donna let go of Hax's hand, slowed enough to pick up a round-faced girl clutching a stuffed rabbit.

The little girl clutched her tightly as they ran. Donna felt something soft brush against her back, and realized when the girl began to wail, that she had dropped her toy. Donna turned halfway back, not quite sure if she really should go back for it, when Hax, with a silent boy in his arms arrived behind her, pushing the stuffed toy into the girls hand. They ran forwards, a trail of colored paper fluttering behind them before falling listlessly to the deck.

An airshaft, leading directly from Yellow to Red, bypassing Blue and Violet entirely, was opened at the end of the corridor. Adults pushed children in first, telling them to go straight until they reached the other side, don't stop. One man, older then the rest screamed at an uncertain child, "Go on, Chun! I'll be right behind you!" In frustration the man pushed the child forwards, picked up another child and raised her up into the tube as well. Donna and Hax passed their silent charges up, watching them crawl out of sight in the tube.

Adults started shimmying up into the tube, time moving terrifyingly slowly.

And then it was down to Donna and Hax, who hesitated before motioning for Donna to go first. Aggravated, Donna pushed him forwards, helping him up, before reaching for his hands and climbing in. She paused, shuffling around on her knees to pull the hatch shut behind them. With a solid and final sounding clunk, the hatch closed.

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_On the anniversery of her fathers death, Donna sat with the Doctor on a beach during prehistoric times, twiddling a Donald Duck watch in her hand. "He gave me this watch in the hospital, seems like yesterday, but it's already been a year. I was up all last night, Doctor, listening as the seconds passed, from midnight to dawn. He gave it to me to remember the good times, he said," she paused, blowing out a huge breath. "But all I could see was how quickly they pass. Time just keeps moving past us, and we're helpless to stop it. You, me, even this" she gestured at the world around them, "will be gone."_

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As she crrawled through the airshaft with Hax's shadowy form in front of her, Donna began to feel her heartbeat and breathing return to a normal. They were so close to Red section, so close, perhaps they might live after all, she thought, smiling in the dark. Her hope did not slow her pace however, the explosion, so deathly imminent now, would be felt all over the ship, and she wanted to be in Red.

It all depended on how much distance they managed to get between themselves and Green section. Donna tried to remember how long it had been since the evacuation order had been made. Three minutes? Four?

Her answer came as the airshaft shuddered beneath her and pitched to the left, causing Donna and everyone inside it to fall onto their sides and hit the wall. Donna's head hit the wall with a sickening crunch, her vision blurred, pixellating into vague dots of color as she slumped down. She was distantly aware of Hax's hand on her wrist, his voice in her ear, "Please," he begged, "we're so close."

Donna shook her head, ignoring her nausea, her dizziness, and the blood pouring down the left side of her face as she scrambled back onto her knees and hands. He, none to discreetly, pulled her forward to be in front of him, and to the side of him, keeping a concerned eye on her as the ship lurched under them. Donna crawled forward, her minds eye imagining those that were dying even now, those who still could.

Wails and panicked murmers rippled through the airshaft as those inside froze in horror as the terrible keening wail of breaking metal ripped through the air. A child began to scream. Donna summoned the mental image of the Doctor at his most authoritarian, then thundered, "Keep moving!"

Slowly, so, so slowly the dark figures in front of Donna began moving again. Within seconds, she was grasping Hax's hand in hers and emerging from the airshaft into a shockingly bright hallway. Whimpering quietly, Donna staggered back from the light, her hand coming up to cradle her head. Hax wrapped an arm around her, steering her and everyone else newly escaped from the airshaft to a room off the corridor. The ship was rocking, pitching backwards and forwards, making it incredibly hard for Donna to keep her balance, especially with her concussed head.

By some miracle, Donna managed to stay on her feet as Hax led her into an empty living room, he deposited her gently on the floor, telling her quietly that he had to help the others here. Donna nodded vaguely, starting in surprise as she felt a small body snuggle up to her own on the floor. She looked down at the round face of the girl with the stuffed rabbit. "It's going to be all right," Donna said, "It's all right, just hang on."

"My Mummy," the child whimpered, I don't know where she is..."

"Ohh, I bet I know where she is." Donna stroked the little girls hair, smiling down at her. "Somewhere right nearby, worrying over you."

"Are we going to die?" the child asked, her voice so matter of fact that it shocked and saddened Donna terribly.

Donna shook her head vehmenently, "No!" she cried, "Red is the safest place to be, it's going to be all right," she soothed.

The girl looked up at her, brown eyes wide, and so innocent, "Do you promise?" she asked.

Donna's heart broke, "No," she whispered, "but almost."

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_"Do you think it's really all that terrible?" she'd asked, looking up from her tea, her eyes still red rimmed from crying her eyes out over the loss of Jenny. "Death," she'd paused considering him, her eyes narrowed in contemplation, "Because that's not the end, is it? It's just another adventure, somewhere you've never been." She stood, walking over to him, "It's like a new world, yours to explore, and yours alone." She'd smiled, "It doesn't sound so terrible."_

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Amid the smoking, vibrating blur that was the room, Donna saw a far wall buckling, like paper being slowly crushed. The terrible noise in her ears, the almost humanoid scream was coming from the ship, from breaking metal, it was the ship screaming. The safety of Red had apparently been a lie. And it was wrong. "It's not right," she said, turning to see Hax kneeling next to her.

The jolt began at her feet, as icy-hot and intense as lightening, it spread upward to her already wounded head. "It's not right," she repeated, as the ship around them began to shake and the floor beneath her grew hot. It was her last thought, even as the walls around her began to glow and her clothes and the room and Hax burst into flame. It's not right. It's not right. It's not right...


End file.
